


what you missed

by zizel



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Angst, F/F, F/M, Implied Relationships, Parenthood, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, for real its claude being a dad, of course its gonna be cute, sad attempt at world building
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-22
Updated: 2020-01-25
Packaged: 2020-10-25 16:44:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20727470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zizel/pseuds/zizel
Summary: Byleth leaves the world the same way her mother had. Claude deals with the aftermath.





	1. First Birthday

When she began to die, the sky cried with them. 

Bullets of rain shot down on the wooden roof of the little cabin they were settled in, reverberating through the house along with the screams of the Queen. Tears streaked down her face as she felt life slowly drift away from her grasp.

She could not leave the world like this, could she? 

Kneeling beside her was her husband, his brown hair in disarray and his hands gripping hers with fervor. Claude did not pray. He only wept with her, hoping that his wife could see this through. They had been through so much together; so much that she couldn't just... die.

Even the sound of their newborn daughters cries did not silence Byleth. She wept harder and harder, realizing what happened to her would happen to her daughter. A lonely childhood, with no loving embrace given by a mother.

"By, Byleth, please. Just... Just hold on okay?" Claude pled with her, his tears dampening her hand. "We were supposed to see a new, brighter world together, right? Don't let go. There's still--there's still so much we need to see together!"

The midwife looked on, holding onto the blood soaked child of the King and Queen as healers desperately tried to mend the situation. The midwife looked into the Queens eyes, and pity overwhelmed the midwifes conscious. She approached the dying queen.

Byleth, utterly exhausted of fighting, found solace in the sight of their child. Tears silently went down her face as the child was placed in her weakened arms, and she held on as tightly as she could. The healers, two young women who could not be older than nineteen, backed away with watering eyes. 

There was no more that could be done.

Claude stopped muttering promises that could not be kept and watched his dying wife hold their daughter. Byleth took one look at him and he almost fell apart. One heartwrenching sob and he was holding on tightly to the both of them. He knew this is the first and last time they would all hold eachother, however he could not admit it out loud.

"Claude?"

At this point, everyone had left the room, giving the family a small sense of privacy. Blood soaked the blanket at Byleth's waist. Her throat was scratchy and the pain she was feeling tore her open from the inside out. She was delirious. The only thing keeping her together were her Husband and Daughter.

"Yes, my love?"

"Don't forget me, okay?"

Claude felt himself tiredly smile at his wife. "Like I could ever forget you, Teach."

The birthday of Beatrice Von Riegan had not been remembered for the birth of a princess, but the death of a Queen.


	2. Hilda and Marianne

Claude was unconsolable.

He returned to Fodlan for a short while. He arrived holding only a small child in his arms and with an empty space at his side.

Beatrice had come early. It seemed like she weighed close to nothing. Claude worried endlessly, and like any sane father would, he became even more protective of her. Instead of her having her own room, they shared. Bea's crib was right next to their... _Claude's_ bed.

He stayed only in the company of his daughter. Day after day, he began to deteriorate. He stopped taking care of his royal duties. His meticulously grown out facial hair was skewed. And worst of all, he could barely eat a thing.

Claude awoke in a cold sweat one very early morning. This alone was not an unnatural occurrence, even before Byleth passed. He looks around in a frenzy, feeling the sheets around him for any sign of his deceased wife.

He realizes soon. And he slowly stops. Instead, he rises out of bed. Glancing at Bea usually calmed him down. His eyes water, but only slightly. He's already done enough pitiful crying for him and the baby both.

Bea did not have the mint colored hair that Byleth had after she absorbed Sothis's spirit (still a crazy concept to Claude, many years later). Instead, Beatrice had the dark blue locks Byleth had a long while ago.

Claude smiled weakly to himself, he almost forgot what her old hair had looked like.

\- - -

That same morning, a disgruntled Hilda Valentine Goneril and a well meaning Marianne von Edmund appeared practically out of thin air.

"The fact that you even associate with that poor child while looking like this is a crime." Hilda said ever-so-eloquently as she tugged on his hair and tried to pull it into something manageable.

Claude plastered on a smile. If Byleth had seen she would have said 'he wasn't smiling with his eyes'. But still, Claude welcomed the distraction Hilda offered.

"I don't think my two week old child cares if my hair is sculpted perfectly, Hilda." Claude shot back, tired eyes flashing with a hint of humor. "Besides, you're not doing so hot either I see."

Hilda damn well knows she has much less on her plate, but if she acknowledges that, it will open up healing wounds. She would rather not bring up Claude's recently deceased wife not moments after they've begun talking.

So she shuts up and turns to Marianne. "Care to explain to King Claude here why my dark circles are noticeable whatsoever?"

Marianne smiles shyly. "Well, Hilda is finally trying to--"

Hilda butts in, "We are trying to."

"_We_ are trying to open a shop together." Claude doesn't miss the way Marianne begins to blush after she says we. Things never really change, do they?

Hilda finishes yanking his longer hair into a ponytail at the base of his neck. She throws in a little sarcastic _ta-da_, obviously dissatisfied.

Hilda waves her hand nonchalantly. "Just as something to do, you know? It's something I've been wanting to do for a long time. Especially after the war ended."

Claude was happy for them, he really was. But he just felt a bit awkward, what with them talking about their newfound love while he just lost his. It was sickly ironic.

He nodded along, processing what they were saying but not offering much to the conversation. But he was still feeling a little better. Seeing any of the Golden Deer was prone to helping him out of the ruts he had (even if this one was _slightly_ more severe than the mental breakdown Claude had over hard boiled eggs three years ago; do not ask).

They sat and talked for a while about this and that before Marianne's stomach began to growl. One look to Hilda, and they were all sat in the dining hall, a feast prepared just for them.

"So, Beatrice," Hilda began, not holding herself back from the buffet spread out before them. She was never known for her table manners, to be fair. "Something tells me that wasn't your first name choice."

Something inside Claude goes cold. He's glad he hasn't eaten anything, or else he may have gotten sick. He felt weak. Even after weeks of being without her, just remembering Byleth would have this affect on him. He wanted to cherish her memory, but he couldn't help the sadness he felt. He missed her.

He thought of how they picked out baby names. How Byleth looked at him with this soft smile whenever he suggested something stupid like _Lorenz the Second_

He tried not to let it show on his face. This was a test. Hilda was testing him. He didn't want her to worry, so he bit his tongue and answered in the most level voice he could.

"Byleth picked it out. She wanted her daughter to have a 'B' name like her, I suppose."

Hilda held her chin in her hands, glancing at him. "She only picked out girls names?"

Claude felt himself genuinely smile. "She was so sure Bea was a girl. Stated it so matter-of-factly too. But for your information, I did pick out boy names if she happened to be wrong."

Marianne smiled warmly. "You should have known better than to question the professor."

They laughed. And even if it was for only a moment, Claude felt a little bit lighter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this story is more of a loose collection of stuff i thought could happen after the gd route in my own au, so i am ignoring the paired endings for the sake of this story


	3. The Grass is Always Greener

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Claude is a worrier.

Beatrice von Riegan. She is the princess of both Fodlan and Almyra. The daughter of Byleth Eisner, an enlightened vessel for the goddess herself and... ahem...Claude. She is next in line for the throne of two kingdoms and yet...

She has never, ever, spoken a single word. Maybe—she can’t even speak.

And Claude worries vehemently. He worries about a lot of things. Many things! So many things that he has almost started to lose track. But his daughter will always be at the top of the list.

She is three (almost four) years old, and the silence that comes from her is looming over him. Leonie teases him endlessly about it, saying he has more to worry about than a child not saying “da-da”, but he just cannot help it. The best medics and doctors from all across Fodlan and Almyra have tested her for deafness and muteness; and all have come up empty handed. Lysithea and Cyril have a son who is 10 months old, and for fodlans sake hes already repeating ‘mama’ like a mantra. Hes leagues ahead of Bea, and she is years older than him!

He remembers things Byleth had told him about her childhood, and he remembers how she was before Garreg Mach. She always had that blank stare and that unsettling “don’t speak unless spoken to” thing. He cant imagine what she was like as a child.

Every day, Bea starts to look more like Byleth. You probably wouldn’t even be able to tell its his daughter too if she didnt have those slightly green-tinted blue eyes and that tanned skin. He cant tell if its a bad thing or not. Being like Byleth means Bea will be a recluse until someone can melt the icy walls surrounding her heart. Claude chuckles to himself, hes overthinking things once again.

He tries to talk to her, sometimes.

They’re walking through the monastery together; Bea taking shaky steps and Claude taking much slower strides so she can keep up. _If she can walk perfectly fine, and eat perfectly fine, and do everthing else perfectly fine, why can’t she speak?_ He thinks bitterly.

“Me and your mother used to come here a lot. She would ask me to tea so many times and every time I would accept in a heartbeat.”

No reply. Not even a sign to show she was listening. Claude almost feels hurt before realizing he is trying to communicate with a toddler. Bea stared endlessly at the grass flowing in the wind. No such luck, huh.

“Staring at the grass, huh half pint?”

No response.

“Yeah, I had to pick weeds out of that grass many times, curtesy of your very own auntie Hilda and her laziness.”

No response.

Claude sighed, exhausted from the attempt at conversation with his unwilling daughter. She was still staring at the grass. What was so interesting about the damn grass? Its grass! There weren’t even flowers or clovers or anything!

Claude was broken out of his reverie by a quiet noise. It could have been another person in the main hall, honestly, but he heard it again. It was high pitched, and when he looked down he saw his daughter pointing at the grass and creating words with her mouth.

“Worm.” She said. And sure enough, crawling around in the dirt, there was a worm.

Beatrice’s first word was “Worm”.

And he can’t even get mad about it. 

He asked for this. 

With an equal amount of proudness and that “what the hell just happened” feeling floating around in his head; he let out a long sigh.

“Yep, it sure is Bea.”

“Worm.” She repeated.

With another held in sigh, he picked up his daughter and started to walk back to her room.

“Worm.”

So this is what he’s been missing out on, huh? Claude now understands Lysithea’s dark undereye circles. He feels he will hear the word worm a lot, and he reluctantly begins to brace himself for long nights of hearing “worm” while he is attempting to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprise! Thanks for reading!!!!!


	4. Tensions Building

“She is just a child!” Claude cried, letting his head fall into his hands. His anger was palpable. Marianne, in an attempt to console him, placed a tentative hand on his shoulder.

Marianne’s hand shook a little. She was usually good at calming people down, but this is the most angry she has seen Claude in years. “Claude, we know. _They_ know. They just think that... that they’re doing the best for Fodlan.” 

“Well they are not going to ruin my daughters childhood ‘for the sake of Fodlan’ when I am doing perfectly fine as king. It’s foolish and I will not do it.” Claude said with an air of finality.

“They aren’t going to let it go, Claude.” Hilda spoke up from the other end of the room. She had been silently watching until now. “I understand your defensiveness but maybe it would be the better choice to just listen to them.”

“Hilda, you better not be saying what I think you are saying.” Claude practically growled.

“You know how bad things are getting. People have been in a tizzy ever since Byleth—“ Hilda winced and Claude glared, but she kept on. “...since she died, the people of Fodlan have been growing more and more hostile to your rule as king. They saw Byleth as a fit because of her relation to the goddess but you... to them you are just an Almyran poser.”

“I won’t ruin my daughters life over nobles rumors that don’t even matter!” Claude shouted, shouldering off Mariannes grip and standing to his full height.

Hilda stood up to meet his gaze. “‘That don’t matter’—Claude! Are you delusional? Open your eyes! The people won’t take this much longer, and you’re just acting like these problems don’t exist!”

“You don’t know a _thing_ Hilda—“__

_ __ _

_ __ _

Claude was cut off by the sound of his bedroom door opening. He looked over to see his daughter, dressed in her sleeping gown and rubbing her eyes. She looked around the room, only seeing her father and aunties and not the tenseness in the air. 

Marianne shakily raised from her seat. “Princess... why don’t we go back to your room?” She asked the girl.

“Auntie...Mari-Marianne...” Beatrice rubbed her eyes some more. “Can... can auntie Hilda and papa c-come?”

Marianne held the princesses hand and led her out of the room.

“Maybe in a little bit, we can read the story about the Pegasi until then, alright?”

“Okay...” Beatrice held on a little tighter as they both exited Claude’s bedroom. Marianne sent a look back at Claude and Hilda, a look Hilda knows as the “disappointed wife” look. Hilda pouted.

The door closed behind Beatrice and Marianne. There was dead silence in the room, and Hilda finally had enough.

“Look, i’m sorry. I was out of line. You’re right none of this is really... my business.” Hilda mumbled that last part. She had never been good at apologies.

“No, i’m sorry. I shouldn’t have lost my cool I... I should listen to what you say. It’s just...” He looked down at the floor. “I can’t do that to my daughter Hilda. She’s all I got.”

Hilda sighed and stretched her arms above her head. “Even if you don’t listen to me, I trust you’ll make the right decision Claude. I’ve been your friend for a long time now and you _usually_ don’t lead me astray...”__

_ _“Thanks, Hilda.” He smiled just slightly._ _

_ _“Okay, enough with the sappy stuff. My wife has probably spent the last 5 minutes gushing about horses to your poor daughter. At this point she’s going to want to be just like her uncle Lorenz.”_ _

_ _Claude had the look of death in his eyes. “Don’t even joke.”_ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i swear i like lorenz


End file.
